The Summoner
by Ascellae
Summary: Three years after Lucy leaves Fairy Tail, an ancient evil awakens and it is up to Lucy to reclaim her heritage as a celestial spirit wizard and save the world from the threat of Imperatus. Some elements from Final Fantasy X. Slow NaLu with hints of LaLu. Multi-chaptered adventure fic. I do not own Fairy Tail or Final Fantasy X.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! Welcome to my first multi-chap story. I have been working on this story for a while so I hope you like it. The story was inspired by Final Fantasy X and will be very Lucy-centric and slow-paced at first. The first chapter is just an introduction and the next chapter will be up as soon as I read through again. Please bear with me and any comments and advice will be much appreciated!**

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**Chapter 1**

Sunlight shone dappled on the forest floor, birds chirped overhead and the buzz of myriad insects filled the humid air.

Lucy sighed to herself as she continued heading East, hoping to reach the village by nightfall. She wasn't looking forward to being mosquito food for another night.

Through the canopy of the trees, she could make out the Olympa range, said to be home of the Celestial Gods back in the times when their presence was more widespread. The village was supposed to be near the base of the mountain according to the request sheet.

"Sure is lonely by myself…" Lucy muttered to no one in particular. She reached for her keys to summon Plue but decided against at as he would probably wilt in this heat.

"Ahh… Its sooooo hot" Lucy yelled at the trees angrily. The trees didn't reply but a few monkeys squawked back at her.

"Chh… Must be going insane, yelling at monkeys" She muttered to herself. With another sigh, she continued eastwards.

After a couple hours of walking in the oppressive heat, the sky abruptly broke in a heavy downpour. "Seriously?! First it's so hot and how it's raining!? What kind of crazy weather is this?!" Lucy scrambled to find some shelter, rushing blindly through the foliage.

The canopy of the trees provided some shelter from the torrent but Lucy was still completely soaked. She cursed as a fresh wave of water poured down on her as the giant leaf above her head gave out under the weight of all the water it had collected. Lucy crashed around blindly, tripping over roots and walking into low hanging branches. Dark clouds obscured the sun and hardly any of the weak sunlight made it through the dense canopy.

Lucy stopped and tried to take in her surroundings. Her head and limbs ached from banging into so many things, and the freezing rain continued to pour down on her relentlessly. Hugging herself, she looked around, seeing nothing but the silhouettes of trees and leaves all around. In her blind rush she seemed to have wandered into a denser part of the forest.

"Open! The Gate of the Clock, Horologium!" Lucy took temporary refuge from the freezing downpour in Horologium, feeling a twinge of guilt for making her spirit stand in the rain.

'What should I do now?' Lucy wondered within the wooden confines of Horologium. There was no way she could tell which way was east with the much denser foliage obscuring her view and it was much too dark to see anyway.

"Ahh I'll summon Pyxis later" Lucy muttered to herself, glad she got the new silver key at the last town she stopped by, "Guess there is nothing to do but wait this rain out… Sorry Horologium"

Luckily with her improved magical abilities, she could keep Horologium out for a longer period of time now. It has been almost a year since she had left Fairy Tail and him. In that year she had travelled around Fiore, doing requests here and there to earn money and train herself. Working alone had forced her to hone her abilities and improve her magical power since she couldn't rely on Natsu to bail her out anymore.

Lucy smiled sadly at the thought of Fairy Tail, she really missed them, her nakama, but she couldn't and wouldn't regret leaving. She had become so much stronger in the past year and seen so much more of the world. She had even learned to re-quip her keys from a fellow wandering mage, whom she shared a few campfires and job requests with, so she couldn't lose them during a fight.

Travelling around the world, Lucy also managed to acquire five new keys, all silver but she still loved them nonetheless. Two of the keys she got were purchased from shops in towns far, far away from Magnolia.

The first was Caelum, the chisel that Angel had used in their battle. The purchase made a serious dent in her pocket since she had just started going solo but the attacking capabilities of the chisel was just too useful to pass up. Lucy took some time to train with the chisel between all her traveling and jobs. She couldn't lift the chisel with both hands, much less one hand like Gemini did, so Lucy usually either left the chisel to fire on its own or as a supplementary weapon for one of her spirits.

The second was her most recent addition, Pyxis, the mariner's compass. The fluffy bird was particularly useful to her since she was traveling so much and she tended to get lost a lot, like she was now.

The third key was a gift from someone special, a fellow guild member she had just parted ways from. The key was Scutum the shield. The large golden shield had defensive capabilities on par with Erza's Adamantite Armor but it consumed magical energy proportionate to the amount of damage it took. Regardless the new key had saved her life on a few occasions; the spirit, like Horologium, had a habit of appearing when her life was in danger.

The other two silver keys were all job rewards. The first key she got was Plue's bigger brother, the Canis Major, Sirius. The wolf dog creature was white as well but a lot stronger and more menacing that its lesser counterpart. The wolf dog creature was loyal as it was protective of its master and it doted on its younger brother adorably. Lucy loved summoning the both of them to keep her company but Sirius took up a somewhat more magical energy that Plue.

The final key was Sagitta, the arrow. The spirit allowed her unlimited arrows of various qualities such as fire or lightning arrows, but she found out, after wasting good jewel on a redwood bow, that Sagitta could not be fired from a regular bow. After gaining permission from the Celestial King, Sagittarius had a bow commissioned for her from the Spirit World.

The bow was made of a light, unbreakable silver wood from some tree that grew in the spirit world and could only be drawn by her. Strangely, unlike normal bows however, there was no string to draw. It could only fire Sagitta and only by her. Unfortunately though, despite the magical or rather spiritual properties of the bow, it did not magically endow its user with skill in using a bow, so Lucy had to train with the bow as well. She was no where near as good as Sagittarius, who had given her some pointers, but she could hit a human sized target from about 50 paces away. Hopefully, she would get better with more practice.

With all the new keys, she had a lot more attacking power now, making it easier to handle the solo quests requiring force. She even took on a request to take out a small group of bandits. Granted, they were all non-mages but Lucy felt proud nonetheless of what she had managed to accomplish in the past year.

Pulling herself out of her stupor, Lucy realized the rain had lessened to a drizzle now. She dismissed Horologium and stood up stretching her stiff limbs. The clouds had dissipated but during the storm the sun had sunk low on the horizon and the sky had taken on the orange hue of sunset.

"Looks like I'm camping out tonight again." Lucy sighed to herself. Looking around, she headed off in a random direction, hoping to find a clearing to camp for the night.

It was becoming increasingly dark and Lucy cursed as she stumbled over what felt like the billionth root. It felt like all the bloody trees were out to trip her with their damned roots. Whipping her hair out of her face, Lucy got up only to trip yet again.

"Damn it!" she swore violently, somehow this fall hurt more than the previous ones. Lucy placed her palms on the group to push herself up but froze when her hands met the ground. It wasn't wet and squishy with occasional bug crawling underhand, it was hard and cool to the touch. It was rock, somehow in the middle of the forest, there was a rock floor.

Pushing herself up, Lucy cautiously inched forward, not wanting to trip again. 'What it this place?' she thought to herself as she discovered that the rock floor was part of an entrance to a tunnel that seemed to lead downwards and she had tripped over a piece of rock that had broken off from the structure. It was too dark for Lucy to tell much so she decided to start a fire and set up camp here. She would explore more tomorrow when the sun was up.

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Shouldering her backpack and picking up a couple of torches she made last night, Lucy made one last check around her campsite before starting off towards the mysterious entrance. In the daylight, she could see more clearly the peculiar structure she had stumbled upon last night. It was derelict, or rather, really, really old. Vines covered the entire structure, breaking up the grey granite in some areas. It seemed like there used to be carvings on the faces of the rocks that formed the entrance, but the forces of nature had long worn them smooth.

Lucy gave the structure a few good kicks, besides some dust falling, nothing else collapsed. "Open! The Gate of the Canis Major, Canis Minor, Nike, Nikora!" Lucy summoned the 2 white creatures to keep her company and also, defend her if necessary.

"Pun pun~" Plue appeared riding on his elder brother's back who made no sound but moved to his master's side.

Together the three of them made their way in to the mysterious tunnel, Lucy lighting the way with her torch. The entrance had steps leading down to a tunnel, Sirius sniffed the air and made happy sound. Plue, too seemed particularly happy and excited for some odd reason.

Lucy relaxed seeing that both her spirits sensed no danger and began looking around. The walls of the tunnel was made of the same grey granite and did not seem particularly menacing like those she had read about in her novels. There empty torch brackets here and there and the ground underfoot was smooth, indicating that many people had walked these tunnels before.

The trio continued down the tunnel which led to a large open area with several tunnels leading off in different directions.

"Wow, this place is huge. So guys, which way should we go?" Lucy asked her 2 furry companions. Plue pointed at a seemingly random tunnel and Sirius bounded off in that direction. Lucy moved to catch up with them, her footsteps echoing in the large chamber.

"Guys wait up!" Lucy called out to them, running into yet another tunnel but this one was shorter though, she could see the end of the tunnel opening up into another large chamber.

Abruptly her torch went out, leaving her in complete darkness. "Plue! Sirius! To me." She called out to her 2 spirits. She could hear an answering "Pun~" in the distance. Lucy slowly made her way towards where she heard Plue, fumbling around to light a new torch.

"Huh? That's odd." Lucy looked down to find that her keys were emanating a strange glow.

"Pun!"

Lucy's head shot up, forgetting all about her strange glowy keys for the moment, worried that something might have happened to her 2 spirits. She rushed blindly towards the direction of Plue's voice and felt the air pressure around her change as she exited the tunnel.

"Plue! Sirius!" Lucy cried out, while her hands fumbled to light another torch.

"Pun~!" came a reply somewhere towards her left, sounding a lot closer than before. Not bothering with the torch, Lucy headed towards that direction and crashed into what felt like a statue.

"Ahh!" Lucy cried out as the "statue" crashed with a resounding boom and she fell along with it. Holding out her arms to break her fall, Lucy felt the skin on her palms tear from the impact with the ground. Coughing a little from all the dust, she groaned as she fell back on her bottom.

In the commotion, Sirius had found her again and made his presence know with a soft headbutt. She hugged the spirit close to her, breathing in the wolf dog's unique scent, relieved that they weren't hurt.

"Pun~ pun~"

"It's okay Plue, I'm fine" Lucy reassured the tiny spirit reaching out in the dark to pat the adorable spirit before proceeding to finally light her torch.

"What is this place?" Lucy muttered to herself as the torch guttered to life, lighting up the cavernous underground chamber she was in. She looked down to check what she had crashed into and cried out in alarm.

"HIEEEEE!"

Looking back at her was the face of Loke, the spirit Leo.

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"Open! The gate of the Lion. Leo!"

The tawny haired spirit appeared in a flash of light, with an equally brilliant smile "You called, Princess?"

Lucy stared at him wide eyed and pointed mutely at the cracked statue.

"Oh my," Loke commented softly when he saw what had gotten Lucy so worked up.

"Care to explain why you're a freaking statue!?" Lucy all but yelled at him.

"Calm down Princess, as you can see it's a statue _of_ me, I'm still very much flesh and blood. Feel free to feel for yourself." Loke flashed his trademark grin at her and Lucy rolled her eyes in reponse.

"Quite the place you have found Princess. This is Doram Vita, home to the priest and priestesses of the Celestial Gods about a thousand years ago or so. It was a time when the Spirit King ruled over all mankind and Spirits were revered as Gods which explains why there is a statue of yours truly in this ancient temple."

Lucy gapped at him for a while, wondering for a moment if he was messing with her but logic kicked in and wonderment took over as she proceeded to look around with new found curiosity.

"Doram Vita…" The name rolled of her tongue easily. She had read of this place but had always only half believed in it, it felt surreal to be in a place she had thought of as a fairy tale.

Lucy swung her torch in a wide arc slowly, trying to see more of the chamber but the weak glow barely penetrated the darkness.

"Put away the torch Princess" Loke said and proceeded to glow, lighting up the room far better than Lucy's torches did.

Lucy's jaw dropped in the most unflattering way and her torch clattered to the floor forgotten. The chamber was dome shaped and was enormous. She could see more statues of the Golden keys, her friends; Aries, Virgo, Gemini, they were all there, their stony facades looking regal and solemn. The statues were slightly larger than life sized and some of them had crumbled like Leo's, but the statues of the Spirit King and Queen dwarfed them all, reaching well over 20 feet and carved of solid white marble.

"You see all those tunnels, they lead to the shrines for each of the Gold key and the King and Queen. We all had our own posse of priests and priestesses to worship and attend to our every need" Loke said. "I had only the most beautiful and nubile young women serve as my priestesses." He added with a smirk.

Lucy rolled her eyes at him and continued her examination of the chamber. "Haha! You were wearing a dress!" Lucy laughed when she noticed the Loke statue's weird raiment. In fact, all of the statues were garbed strangely.

"It's a _toga_," Loke clarified, "and that's what people wore back then. We spirits keep up with the latest fashion trends too you know."

"Riiiight, a tux is soo _current_" Lucy replied. But then again, thinking of her other spirits' fashion choices, namely a cow in a speedo and a certain archer in a horse suit, dressed in what? _Breeches_ I think, a suit isn't that bad actually.

"Come Princess, I'll show you around." Loke beckoned and headed off in a random direction, Sirius and Plue bounding off after him.

**End of Chapter 1**

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**Thank you very much for reading, I apologise if it was boring, the story starts out slow. Please review, thank you! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi everyone I'm back with the second Chapter. There isn't a lot of action in this chapter but it explains the background of the story. Please enjoy the story.**

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**Chapter 2**

Lucy frowned at her dwindling food supplies, wishing it would somehow multiply but the hundreds of books she had read in this past week hadn't taught her how to do that.

"I got to get to that village soon..." Lucy sighed to herself, "Wonder if anyone did that request yet. I could use some money."

She made up her mind to leave Doram Vita the next morning to head to the village before her supplies got too low and headed back to her makeshift table of stacked books.

Over the last few days, Lucy had explored the entirety of Doram Vita, finding many nooks and crannies and dead ends but generally everything was in pretty good shape considering it had been abandoned for like a thousand years.

She had summoned each spirit as she visited their "Shrines" and they all exclaimed in wonderment, professing their love for the place. Even Aquarius was slightly less mean and did not highlight Lucy's lack of a lover for once. Each "Shrine" had been decorated to suit their ruling deity's character although most of the silk hangings and tapestries were mostly gone by now, eaten by moths.

Secretly, Lucy liked Aquarius' "Shrine" the most, not that she would ever tell the temperamental spirit of course. It was a cavern at the base of the mountain with a ridiculously gorgeous waterfall (which Lucy could not figure out, came from where, or where all the water went to either) and several smaller fountains. However, Lucy chose to spend her nights in Doram Vita at Aries' "Shrine" for obvious reasons – comfort being the most pre-dominant.

Besides the Grand hall (Virgo told her what it was called) where she had "destroyed" Loke's statue, she also came upon sleeping quarters, a large kitchen with an accompanying pantry and cellar, a large dining area, a huge ballroom and her favourite (obviously), a library jammed full of books where she was spending most of her time.

The cellar and pantry had nothing left but a few barrels of several centuries old whisky, which Lucy's spirits decided was a good idea to consume in celebration of returning to Doram Vita. With the permission of the Spirit King (who, according to Loke, wanted to join them himself), the Spirits crossed the gate into the human realm, using their own power, and proceeded to get blindingly drunk.

The following morning, after most of the spirits had gone back to their own realm in effort to escape their pounding headaches, Lucy asked Capricorn (who was the only sober spirit left) why they could cross the gate without her summoning. Capricorn explained that the gate here was easier to breach due to the proximity of Doram Vita to Olympa, which was the point where the 2 realms crossed, and also the place was imbued with centuries of celestial magic.

Lucy chuckled to herself as she recalled the drunken antics of her spirits. Sagittarius, her chosen companion for the day looked at her weirdly, "Moshi-moshi. Is something wrong Lucy-dono?"

Lucy giggled harder looking at the man in the horsesuit as she remembered what her spirits told her about Sagittarius being quite the Romeo once when courting Andromeda, another spirit. "That explains the breeches" Lucy thought to herself, stifling her giggles.

Either Sagittarius knew what she was thinking about and decided to save himself the embarrassment of asking or he was used to Lucy's weirdness and decided to ignore her. Lucy sobered up and went back to the book she was reading.

With the help of her Ultra Super Hurricane Force Glasses (Patent Pending), she had read nearly half the books in the library already in the last few days. There were many books on general topics like farming and geography as well as fictions and fairy tales, but what really interested her were the books on the up-till-now lost history of Doram Vita and its religion.

Lucy was an academic at heart and she knew that history was written by the winners and thus could be inaccurate. Therefore she proceeded to read about 50 books that were in Japanese or English on the history of the land, and while there were some discrepancies here and there between who started what fight and what not, the general history was the same.

A couple of millennia ago, a darkness emerged to plague the land, a creature the people then called Imperatus. A few books had provided an illustration of a humongous creature with a gaping maw, tentacles and scales. It is said that the outer body was a shell and the true evil spirit resided within the creature. The creature was resistant to all magic with the exception of Celestial Magic, considering that it was a creature of darkness. But even then, it took a truly great celestial wizard to even subdue the creature.

Celestial wizards, or Summoners, as they were know back then would form contracts with Spirits and train to battle Imperatus. Once in a few decades, a Summoner would succeed, not in ending Imperatus, but only to send it to sleep for a few years. To subdue Imperatus, the Summoner would cast a spell, using his own spirit to trap Imperatus for a few years. Some of the greater great Summoners kept Imperatus subdued longer for over a decade, but in the end, Imperatus would always rise again.

Then there was this one guy, a thousand years ago, who fell in love with a Summoner and absolutely refused to let her die to earn a few years of respite and so somehow they found a way to defeat Imperatus for good. It helped that the Summoner came from a long line of successful Summoners, descendent from the Spirit King and Queen themselves, contracted all 12 golden gates, and her companions were all powerful mages in their own right.

"Neh, Sagittarius, do you still remember Lanea Adastra?" Lucy asked

"Of course, moshi moshi" Sagittarius replied, saluting for no apparent reason. "Lanea-sama was the greatest Summoner of all time and she was kind as she was beautiful. It was a true honour to have served as her spirit, Moshi mosh."

"Ehh.. I would love to have known her" Lucy mused, looking at the illustration of Lenea Adastra. "All 12 spirits huh…"

"Lenea-sama was the only summoner ever to contract all 12 keys," Sagittarius said, "Lucy-dono is the only other summoner who has come so close to all 12"

Lucy smiled to herself, happy at the indirect praise. "Can you tell me more about her?"

"Lenea-sama was the scion of two of the 4 great Houses. Each House had their own element and the corresponding zodiacs of that element were contracted to that house Moshi moshi."

Lucy nodded in understanding, having read some of this in the books, indicating that Sagittarius should continue.

Clearing his throat, Sagittarius continued with the story, "Now Lenea-sama was the daughter of Adastra and Compostela, the Houses of Fire and Earth, and so she controlled the keys Taurus, Capricorn, Virgo, Leo, Aries and myself. Normally, a Summoner would only control at most 3 keys if they were the only scion of their house, but Lenea-sama was the only scion left for both houses. During that time, Imperatus had been growing a lot stronger and many Summoners had perished trying to subdue him. The 4 great Houses were in fact, dying out."

"So how did she come to contract all 12 keys?" Lucy interrupted.

Sagittarius raised an eyebrow at his master's impatience but made no other signs of displeasure. "I was just getting to that part moshi-moshi. The only other 2 Summoners that that time were Esne Bidea of the Water and Ciel Atamena of the Air. Both Esne and Lenea-sama were considered Fiore's greatest hope in defeating Imperatus. However, Esne had always been jealous that Lenea-sama controlled 6 keys while she only controlled 3. So before they left on their journey to defeat Imperatus, Esne challenged Lenea-sama to a battle for her keys. While it was rare for such challenges to be issued, considering the dwindling number of summoners, their code demanded that the challenge be accepted."

"What?! What kind of rule is that? That's so unfair!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Lucy-dono, you must understand things were different back then. Summoners carried a great deal of responsibility and it is only fair to determine which was the stronger Summoner and provide him or her with the best arsenal of Spirits possible. Power concentrated in one summoner was worth more than many weak summoners." Sagittarius explained.

"Oh… Okay, I understand Sagittarius. Please continue" Lucy settled back down in her chair.

"As you probably guessed, Lenea-sama won the challenge and Esne was disgraced as the scion of house Bidea, losing all her keys, including those of her house Cancer, Pisces and Aquarius." Sagittarius continued, "With 9 gold keys, Lenea-sama carried an even greater responsibility as the last hope for Fiore."

"Ceil-sama was a lot older than both Lenea-sama and Esne so he had already started his journey some time ago. While Lenea-sama was still travelling, Ciel-sama had already tried to go against Imperatus once but failed, barely escaping with his life. Along her journey Lenea-sama met up with him in a village where he revealed to her that he was dying from his injuries from his battle. While Lenea-sama was visiting the village, it was attacked by Imperatus' minions trying to eliminate the last 2 Summoners who pose a threat to Imperatus. Ciel-sama died in that battle protecting the village and entrusted his keys to Lanea-sama. That's how Lenea-sama came to hold all 12 keys of the golden gates, moshi moshi."

Lucy was intrigued by the history Sagittarius was sharing, but the romantic in her had to ask. "So what about the guy who fell in love with her?"

"Ryu-sama? Moshi moshi." Sagittarius thought for a bit before continuing. "Traditionally, a Summoner would have a group of fellow mages travelling with her for protection and also to aid in the fight against Imperatus. Ryu-sama was one of the mages travelling with Lenea-sama. He was a powerful mage, loud and boisterous, but fiercely protective of his friends. Lenea-sama fell in love with him, not only because he saved her life many times but also because of his faith in his friends, his faith in her. And this love between them was what ended Imperatus for good."

"Ehhh... So romantic." Lucy sighed, wondering if ahead would ever find a love like that. "So what magic did Ryu-sama use?"

"Ryu-sama was a dragon slayer, an earth dragon slayer." Sagittarius answered.

"Dragon slayer?! Like Natsu and Gajeel?" Lucy exclaimed, sitting up in her seat.

"Yes moshi moshi." Sagittarius replied, saluting again.

"Wow they had dragon slayers a thousand years ago too!" Lucy said, "Then what about the dragons? Then have not disappeared yet right, 1000 years ago. Why didn't they help fight Imperatus?"

"The dragons did try to help moshi moshi. But you see, Imperatus was a dragon slayer, the dark dragon slayer, so the dragons were disadvantaged against him. They also couldn't risk losing one of the dragons or the whole balance of the elements would be upset. So the dragons helped by training humans as dragon slayers to help defeat Imperatus. Moshi moshi" Sagittarius answered patiently.

Lucy nodded in understanding, "Things were so tough for Lenea-sama... How did she manage to defeat Imperatus?"

"While Lenea-sama was a one of the greatest Summoners who ever lived, if not the greatest, that alone was not enough to defeat Imperatus. Besides holding all 12 keys, Lenea-sama made one of the longest journey as a Summoner, travelling to the far west to learn their secrets." Sagittarius replied.

"She went to Chi'an?" Lucy interrupted again.

"Yes moshi moshi. Back then it took a lot longer to travel that far and it was a lot more dangerous as Imperatus often travelled through the oceans." Sagittarius answered before continuing.

"The maesters of Chi'an told her she had to find the dragon and the phoenix to gain the power to defeat Imperatus but she had to defeat them first for they were proud beings that did not submit easily to a master. So Lenea-sama travelled with her companions to find the celestial beings and managed to defeat them with the help of the 12 keys combined and gain the 2 new crystal keys of the Dragon and the Phoenix."

"What was so special about the Dragon and the Phoenix?" Lucy asked.

"The Celestial Dragon is the Light Dragon, the counterpart to the Dark dragon. His power was required to defeat Imperatus." Sagittarius answered. "The Phoe-"

"If the Light Dragon's power was required, how did the previous Summoners defeat Imperatus?" Lucy cut Sagittarius off.

"The previous Summoners did not _defeat_ Imperatus, they only had to weaken him enough to cast the final spell to bind their soul to Imperatus' consciousness, sending him to sleep for a few years. Since Lenea-sama did want to use the spell, she had to totally defeat Imperatus and not just weaken him. For that she needed the power of the Light Dragon." Sagittarius, the never-ending well of patience, answered his impatient master.

Lucy nodded, motioning for him to continue.

"As for the Phoenix, she provided the power of resurrection. Th-"

"Wait, wait, wait. I thought Lenea-sama wasn't going to use the final spell. Why does she need to resurrect if she wasn't going to die?" Lucy interrupted yet again.

"Imperatus is immortal, which is why it plagued humanity for so long. With the 12 gold keys, it was possible to kill an immortal, but it takes another immortal to do so. Alight in the flames of the Phoenix, Lenea-sama became was immolated temporarily, long enough to cast the spell to end Imperatus' immortality"

"How come no one thought of doing this before?" Lucy asked.

"People were a lot more traditional back then, no one thought to question the traditions and not a lot of Summoners had enough power to contract all 12 keys and defeat both the Dragon and the Phoenix. The Final Spell that sent Imperatus was Earthland's only hope for a few years of peace. No one was going to complain about the cost."

"That's stupid…" Lucy mumbled to no one in particular. "So what happened after that?"

"Lenea-sama returned to Fiore a hero, married Ryu-sama and had many children to carry on the Adastra and Compostela lines. She returned the Water and Air keys to the respective houses and her children inherited the Fire and Earth keys. Even though Bidea and Atamena had no Summoners left to wield the keys, it was their by right." Sagittarius replied.

"So then why was Doram Vita abandoned?" Lucy asked

"Without Imperatus, there was no longer a need for Summoners and eventually as time passed, the religion faded out of existence as science advanced and mankind moved on." Sagittarius said, with a hint of sadness.

"Oh that's so sad, how could everyone forget what the spirits and Lenea-sama went through to bring them eternal peace." Lucy pouted, feeling unjust for her fellow celestial mage.

Sagittarius chuckled, "Sometimes, Lucy-dono, it is easier to forget than to remember all the pain and suffering that gave birth to a hero like Lenea-sama."

"Hmm… I still think she should be remembered. But I guess it was a thousand years ago, at least her beloved spirits still remember her." Lucy smiled at that thought, wondering if the spirits would remember her a thousand years from now.

"Lucy-dono, it is late. You should get some rest now moshi moshi" Sagittarius said, watching Lucy yawn.

"I guess you're right Sagittarius." Lucy smiled at Sagittarius, appreciating his concern, "Would you like to go back? I can get Plue and Sirius to keep me company tonight."

"If it is not too much trouble, moshi moshi. All this story telling has left me thirsty for a glass of the Milky Way" Sagittarius said, saluting his master.

"No problem Sagittarius, thanks for telling me about Lenea-sama. Goodnight." Lucy smiled at the disappearing Sagittarius, waving goodbye.

Requiping the 2 silver keys, Lucy summoned Plue and Sirius once more to keep her company and together they made their way to corner where Lucy made her temporary bed.

**End of Chapter 2**

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**Thank you for reading, please review! Thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone! Here is the third chapter and I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading!**

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**Chapter 3**

"Finally!" Lucy felt a burst of excitement as she saw the village in the distance. Breaking out into a run, she quickly made her way to the wooden gates in the distance, Sirius running along beside her with Plue clinging on to his brother's back.

After a few weeks without a proper bath, Lucy felt downright disgusting. She had wanted to bathe in Aquarius' pools be was threatened with death by drowning and she felt bad using Pisces' crystal clear lake without the spirit's permission so she just drew water from the well and made do.

Lucy came to a stop a few metres away from the gate. "Sorry guys, better not let them see you yet. No idea how these people feel about Celestial Spirits." Lucy dismissed the 2 spirits and straighten herself out, removing a few twigs and branches that snagged in her hair and clothes.

As she entered the village, a few people turned to stare at her but some of them gave her welcoming smiles. An elderly man half her height, holding a old wooden staff walked up to her and offered his hand in greeting.

"Hello miss, welcome to Pomodo. My name is Birk Compostela and I am the village chief. What brings a young girl like you to a secluded village like Pomodo." He said in a hoarse-ish voice.

Lucy eyes widened as she shook his offered hand vigorously, "Compostela! You're descendent from Lenea Adastra?!"

"How did you know of Lady Leana? Not many youngsters nowadays know their history anymore." Birk replied, "I am descendent of the Compostela family through Terra Compostela, Lady Lenea's cousin. Terra unfortunately wasn't gifted with celestial magic and neither are his descendents, but here in Pomodo we still worship the Celestial Gods and Spirits as is their due."

"You worship still worship celestial spirits? Like the Spirit King and Queen?" Lucy asked, amazed the religion was still alive in this tiny corner of Earthland.

"You mean the His most Holy Magnificence and Her Shining Grace. It is not appropriate to address them as the merely the Spirit King and Queen. May His Great Holiness forgive you." Birk chided.

Lucy snorted, wondering if she should tell Birk she once called 'His Holy Magnificence' Moustache-man. 'Best not… The poor old man would probably keel over in shock.'

"Of course, we also pay due respect to their children the Divine Ones. We have a shrine here in Pomodo for each of them…" Birk continued, oblivious to Lucy's thoughts.

"Wait you mean you worship the gold keys? Like Leo and Virgo and Gemini?" Lucy was incredulous. They worshiped Taurus? And Loke? Lucy didn't know to laugh or cry at the sheer ridiculousness.

"_Divine ones_" Birk stressed again, shaking his head at Lucy, "It's good that you know your history but your should really learn how to address the Almighty Heavenly Beings appropriately."

Lucy had to laugh as she imagined addressing Cancer as His Shining Greatness. "His Shining Scissors more likely" she thought to herself. "Ow! Hey Oyaji!" Lucy yelped when Birk smacked her with his staff.

"Show some respect." Birk wagged his finger at her with a frown on his face.

Lucy pouted, rubbing her sore backside before grinning scarily as an idea came to her head. "Open! The gate of the Lion, Leo!"

In a flash of brilliance, the tawny haired spirit materialized, suave smile and all. "Hello Princess, missed me already?"

"Oh my goodness!" Birk cried out shakily, dropping to his knees. "Oh Most Glorious Divine One! Your magnificence knows no bounds, your greatness is unparalleled! Grant us your favor Oh Mighty Lion, Star Son of His Holy Shiningness!"

"Eh?" Loke, the ever-eloquent replied, looking down at the midget man prostrating himself at his feet.

"OH DIVINE ONE!" A crowd gathered as the villagers rushed out to throw themselves at Loke's feet, having seen the light of his summoning.

"What the heck?!" Loke yelled, backing away from the crazy crowd. "Princess! We should get out of here!"

Lucy simply fell to the floor laughing at him, is expression was priceless! "Go on Loke –hahahaha- give them your blessings –Hahahahahaha!" Lucy choked out between her laughter.

Birk scuttled on all fours over to Lucy, causing her to scramble to her feet away from the creepy old man. "Lady Summoner! Striking one as exalted as you is simply unforgivable! Please punish me as you will, my life is forfeit!" Birk exclaimed, kowtowing at her feet.

Lucy facepalmed at the extremity of these people, strangely reminded of Erza, maybe summoning Loke wasn't such a good idea.

"Princess, what is going on here? Should I attack?" Loke asked, fist alight with the power of Regulus, eying Birk who was still worshiping their feet.

"No its fine Loke, they mean no harm." Lucy smiled, reassuring her Lion spirit.

Loke relaxed his stance, letting the power dissipate from his fists, "So, care to explain what is going on Princess?"

"Welcome to Pomodo Loke, the people here still worship the Celestial Gods; still worship spirits like you." Lucy smirked at him.

"Worship eh? I could get used to this." Loke raised his arms dramatically, "Arise my people! For I have come to show the light of my power!"

"OH DIVINE ONE! GRANT US YOUR BLESSINGS!" chanted the crowd

Loke turned back, flashing a smirk at Lucy who rolled her eyes in return, definitely regretting summoning the Lion spirit now. Tempted to force a gate closure, Lucy decided to let Loke have his fun first seeing how this villagers probably thought this was the best day of their life.

"O Regulus grant me strength . Lion Flare!" Loke used a milder version of one of his showier moves so as not to blind his adoring worshipers.

"WAAAAAHHHHH" the easily impressed crowd watched awestruck as their deity glowed with the light of a thousand stars, even more convinced of the awesome god likeness of the tawny haired man in weird blue glasses.

"ALL HAIL LEO! NOBLE SON OF HIS ALMIGHTY MAGNIFICENCE!"

Loke flashed a devastatingly handsome smirk in return, basking in the adulations, causing some of the women to swoon and some men to question their sexual preferences.

"That's enough Loke, before you cause any permanent damage." Lucy chided, walking up to her Spirit.

"Aww you're no fun Princess" Loke pouted, sending a couple more into oblivion due to overwhelming cuteness.

* * *

By the time Lucy managed to get Birk to stop kissing the ground she walked and slap the fainters back into consciousness, night had fallen and Lucy still hadn't gotten the bath she wanted. Lucy was in her scary-like-Erza-bad-mood, glaring at anyone who dared to bow in her general direction or use the words holy, magnificent, noble, shiny, glittery or any other superfluous adjectives.

'Kami-sama, how did Lenea-sama stand all this.' Lucy thought to herself, sighing for the umpteenth time. She had taken refuge in some random hut, hiding from Birk who was still begging her forgiveness and all the other villagers who wanted to shake her hand or see her keys and what not.

Letting loose a few choice words, Lucy gathered herself and let the hut, bracing herself for the onslaught of annoying adorations. Immediately Birk was by her side, lamenting his eternal regret and sorrow for striking her.

"… the most grievous, the most heinous crime to ever raise a hand against one as noble and distinguished as yourself. A thousand years of repentance –"

"Shut it old man." Lucy cut him off, "I want a hot bath and food. Where do I go?"

"A hut has been prepared for you, please follow me My Lady. A thousand apologies! How could I have kept you from refreshing yourself after what must have been a difficult and long journey…" Birk rattled on and on, leading the way towards the centre of the village.

Lucy groaned and rolled her eyes, praying whatever God there is up there, Spirit King or not, to grant her patience. At least she was finally going to get a bath.

The hut prepared for her was actually pretty nice, though not as large as her apartment back at Magnolia. The carpet underfoot was thick and soft and there was a fire blazing, keeping the room comfortably warm. A low table was set in the middle of the room, piled with food and stacks of cushion were strewn about, presumably for sitting or reclining on.

Birk had left her at the door, informing that he will return tomorrow to 'talk' more, leaving her in the hands of 2 young women. Lucy didn't even want to know what they were going to discuss tomorrow, but somehow she knew it was definitely going to be a very long conversation.

"My Lady Summoner, this way to the bath." One of the women said, leading Lucy to a backroom divided by a curtain of beads that chimed musically when stirred.

Lucy undressed in almost indecent haste, barely giving the woman anytime to leave before she was naked and soaking in the bath. Letting out a contented sigh, she began to clean herself systematically, praising whoever invented soap to the high heavens with her newly learned vocabulary of useless praise.

Lucy emerged from her bath dressed in a new outfit courtesy of Virgo, having burnt her previous one, and her 2 attendants curtsied to her politely. Unconsciously, Lucy straightened her back and held her head higher, her social etiquette training coming into play in response to the differential treatment. Capricorn had also been nagging her to act as befitting her status of a daughter of Heartfilia Kozern, despite her telling him that they were now bankrupt

Seating herself at the table, she began to eat in measured bites even though she really just wanted to mimic Natsu at this point and just shove everything in her mouth. Feeling unnerved by the silence and the 2 women just staring at her eat, Lucy decided to get to know them better.

"Come, eat with me." Lucy smiled warmly at the two, "There is more than enough food and its lonely eating alone."

The two women looked conflicted, finding it inappropriate to dine with such a distinguished person but at the same time wanting to talk more with their new found idol. Hesitantly, after exchanging many glances and pointed looks, the two women made their way to the table and sat down slowly, not daring to make a sound.

Lucy shook her head at their behavior, it wasn't like she was going to strike them down in holy righteousness or something like that for speaking.

"What are you names? My name is Lucy." Lucy said, trying to break the ice.

"My name is Alena and this is my sister Laney, if it pleases you My Lady Summoner." Replied the girl on Lucy's right, keeping her eyes downcast.

"There is no need to use My Lady or what not, just Lucy is fine." Lucy said, gesturing with her chopsticks.

"Oh no! Master Birk would be very upset with us if we were to address you so disrespectfully." Laney said, shaking her head furiously.

Nibbling on the tips of her chopsticks, Lucy thought for a bit, "Hmm, well I guess My Lady is fine or just Lady Lucy. Enough with all the curtsies and stuff, outside this village everyone just treats me like just another person you know."

"How could they treat a Lady Summoner like just like any other person?! Blasphemy!" Alena gasped.

"Err heheh" Lucy made a placating gesture with her hands, "That's because they don't worship the Celestial Gods outside of Pomodo. "

"Ehh? Then what Gods do they worship?" Laney asked

"Err… Let's see." Lucy thought for a bit, scratching her cheek with her chopsticks , "Well I guess different people worship different Gods… ?"

"Why do they worship these other Gods? Did they help save the world from evil too?" Laney asked

"Err… I guess so" Lucy answered, not too sure herself.

"So what do this other Gods look like?" Alena asked, wondering if they were as handsome as Loke.

"Err, I don't know, I have never met them." Lucy was beginning to regret talking to them.

"Ehh? Then how do you know they exist?" Laney asked

"Err… same way you knew the Spirit King and the Spirits of the 12 Golden Gates existed even though you haven't seen them for a thousand years I guess."

"But that's different! Although we have never seen His Holy Greatness the eternal Lord of Light, we constantly communicate with the lesser spirits." Alena explained.

"Ehh? Spirits can wander without a key bearer here?" Lucy asked.

Both Alena and Laney nodded, and Alena explained "Mount Olympa is the point where our 2 worlds meet, so Spirits can cross over to the Human World freely here."

"Waaa, that's so cool!" Lucy exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

"Mmhmm" Laney nodded, smiling happily, "The Spirits are all our friends, but only the Silver keys wander here though. The Gold keys are all contracted so they don't have time to come to Mount Olympa"

Lucy chatted with the 2 girls for the rest of the meal about the Spirits, the two girls relaxing enough to talk to her normally. Lucy thanked them for the meal when she was done, deciding to head to bed.

"Open! The gate of Canis Major, Canis Minor. Nike! Nikora!" Lucy summoned her two spirits out of habit after travelling alone for so long.

"Ahh! Canis Minor! Kawaii!" Laney exclaimed, reaching down to pat the adorable spirit.

"His name is Plue and his brother is called Sirius." Lucy said.

"Plue! Shall I bring you to meet your brothers tomorrow?" Laney giggled, playing with Plue.

"Pun pun!" Plue replied, no one understanding what he said, except maybe his silent brother.

The 2 girls bid Lucy goodnight and left, leaving Lucy to her own devices. Stretching her arms over her head, Lucy let out a massive yawn since no one was looking.

"Come on guys, let's head to bed." Lucy said, beckoning to her 2 spirits.

**End of Chapter 3**

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**Thanks everyone for reading! Please please review as I would really like to know how I am doing. Its my first multi-chaptered story so I would really appreciate some advice. Is it too fast? Too slow? Is it difficult to understand? Thanks!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello Everyone! Thank you for reading my story! I would like to humbly request that you please, please, please review as I would really like to know how I am doing please. **

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"_Karyu no Hoko!_"

A blaze of shimmering flames swirled in a violent inferno, engulfing the giant anaconda. The large reptile released one last screech in defiance before collapsing in a smoking pile.

"Heh! Piece of cake!" Natsu cheered, pumping his fist.

"Natsu! Are you okay?" Happy flew over, circling the Salamander, checking for any injuries.

"Of course! Not a scratch." Natsu reassured Happy, "Come on, let collect the venom and get our reward!"

Stooping down to the still smoking reptilian head, Natsu produced a glass vial from his pack and proceeded to extract the venom as requested by the client.

"Done! Come on Happy, lets head back." Natsu straightened up, tucking the vial securely away in his pack.

Natsu walked towards the edge of the cliff overlooking the great Woodsea and stared out into the horizon. A breeze swept past, stirring the fallen leaves, and ruffling his pink hair.

Happy looked at his partner sadly, worried for him, "Natsu…"

It has been a year already… Gods he missed her so much.

This is the sixth job he has taken in a row, guess it's about time he headed back to Fairy Tail, head back home.

Home. Somehow home didn't feel like home anymore, without her. He stayed away longer now, taking multiple jobs at a time, keeping himself busy.

Team Natsu was pretty much broken up now. Erza went on a 10-year SS-class mission, and without her or _her_, Gray and Natsu just didn't get along. So Gray teamed up with Juvia and Natsu went back to partnering with Happy.

He kept up her rent for her, making plenty of jewels working for many requests. Whenever he was in Magnolia, he would stay at her place in a desperate effort to lessen the emptiness in his life, his heart.

But he could feel it fading. Like her scent he was so desperately trying to recapture by staying at her apartment, it felt like she was slipping further and further away from him each day.

Hopelessness. He never knew what it meant till now. For once there was nothing he could do, no matter how strong his punches, how hot his flames burned. He couldn't bring her back, back to him, where she belonged.

She made her choice and he would never ask her to do anything against her will. So why did it feel so wrong? This empty feeling he had, the ache in his heart. No matter how much he ate, he couldn't get rid of the annoying empty feeling.

And he really did eat. When she first left, he didn't understand the feeling so he just kept eating and eating, even more than his usual staggering amount. Fortunately, with his dragon metabolism and hyperactivity, he couldn't get fat so all that food became muscle. And boy did all that delicious food become some drool worthy meat on the Dragon slayer to which all the women of Fairy Tail and Magnolia would be happy to attest.

After a while he realised eating didn't make the feeling go away so he turned to work instead, to help him forget. He began taking more jobs, more difficult jobs, keeping away from Fairy Tail and Magnolia for longer and longer periods of time.

He knew the other Guild members were worried about him, especially Happy his partner. He tried to act like he always did but he had lost his will somewhere along the way, probably when she left.

Natsu released a sigh and took a deep breath, hoping in vain to catch her scent in the wind.

"Where are you…? Lucy…"

* * *

Lucy hummed to herself as she made way up the mountain path, her faithful companions Plue and Sirius padding alongside. She was heading to a cottage somewhere midway up the mountain to delivery some foodstuffs for the elderly lady living there.

As it turned out, no one had taken up the request that had initially brought Lucy to Pomodo, so she decided to fulfil the request as a repayment to the overly hospitable residents of Pomodo and well… also because she need a break from the constant attention and adoration she was receiving.

There was a landslide caused by the recent rains that blocked up the path and without magical help, it would have taken weeks for the residents of Pomodo to clear it up. The old lady who lives up in the cottage would have starved by then.

Lucy had been walking for nearly an hour now and Plue was wilting in the heat on his brother's back. Even Sirius seemed a little wilted in the merciless heat. According to Birk's directions, she should be arriving at the site of the landslide soon.

"Ehhh!" Lucy exclaimed when she saw the landslide. She could see why the reclusive Pomodo had requested for magical help. The dirt was piled up higher than her head with odd clumps of grass, branches and what Lucy was pretty sure was an entire tree sticking out here and there.

Lucy sighed, putting down the bag of supplies she was carrying, "Yosh! Time to get to work! Open! The Gate of the Maiden, the Gate of the Lion. Virgo! Leo!"

"Princess is it punishment time?" Virgo immediately said.

"Lucy my love, you're too cruel to keep me away for your side for so long." Loke said at the same time.

"Hai. Hai." Lucy made a small gesture with her hands, not even bothering to react to her Spirits' comments. "I need your help clearing up this landslide. Can you guys do it?"

"Of course. Leave it to us Princess." Loke replied, lighting up his fist with the power of Regulus.

Virgo zoomed off right away, digging through the blockage with incredibly efficiency while Leo starting punching at the dirt wall, sending dirt flying everywhere.

Lucy dismissed Plue and Sirius to keep them out of the flying dirt's way and dug a shovel out of the pack of supplies. She then proceeded to help her spirits clear the landslide, although she was a lot slower at it.

After 4 hours of hard work, the blockage was finally cleared up and Lucy fell to the ground exhausted. Even though Virgo did most of the work (Lucy wasn't really sure if Leo's punching helped or not), the physical and magical drain really did a number on her.

"Princess, we shall be returning now." Virgo said with a small bow.

Lucy nodded in reply, "Thanks a lot for the help guys!"

The 2 spirits faded away and Lucy wearily picked herself up off the ground. The sun was setting, and she had to reach the cottage before nightfall of she'd be stranded on the mountain with no shelter for the night. Walking back to where she left the supplies, Lucy shouldered the bag and set off once more on the now cleared path.

After walking for another hour or so, Lucy could make out a light in the distance. The sun had almost completely set by now so she hurried towards the light and was relieved to see that the source was the cottage.

The cottage was a small one, built of stone with a thatch roof and a chimney from with smoke gently drifted out. Walking up to the front door, Lucy knocked thrice and waited for someone to answer.

"Go away! No one is home!" a croaky old voice shouted from within.

'What an idiot' Lucy thought as she facepalmed.

"Er good evening Oba-san. My name is Lucy and I've come at the request of Birk to deliver some supplies." Lucy said, feeling vaguely stupid for talking to a door.

There were some shuffling noises before the front door abruptly shot open. Glaring at Lucy was a small old woman who barely reached Lucy's waist holding a wizened old cane for support.

"Er heheh…" Lucy tried to give her friendliest smile but it ended up looking more like a grimace.

"Hmph." The old lady stepped aside to let Lucy enter the small cottage, and pointed at the small round table "Just leave them there."

Lucy set the supplies carefully down on the table. 'Why am I so nervous?' She thought to herself, shivering under the intense glare of the old lady. 'Scary…'

"Now get out!" the old lady yelled, using her cane to point out the door.

"What!" Lucy reeled in shock, "But the sun has set! How am I supposed to get back?!"

"Not my problem. Now out!" the old lady replied uncaringly.

"Oi! Wait a minute! I dug through a freaking landslide to get these supplies to you. The least you could do is let me stay the night! You didn't even offer me something to drink! What kind of lousy host are you!" Lucy yelled back angrily, puffing her cheeks out in anger.

The old lady simply stared back, her staff pointing unwaveringly out the door.

Lucy turned to leave with a sigh. No matter how unfair she felt the old lady was being, she wouldn't stay in someone's house uninvited. She was brought up with better manners than that.

"Goodnight Oba-san." Lucy muttered and walked out of the cottage.

"Hiiiee!" Lucy whispered-screamed, stomping her feet in agitation. "How can she be so rude!"

After stomping around a bit more, Lucy let out a loud sigh, turning her attention back to figuring how to get off the mountain without walking off a cliff with nothing but starlight to guide her. She was too exhausted to call out any spirits and honestly, even if she could see, Lucy doubt she had the energy to make it down the mountain.

"Guess I have to camp out tonight." Lucy decided. She walked to a small grove of trees about 5 metres away from the old lady's cottage where there was a bit of grass to make the ground slightly softer.

Concentrating hardly, Lucy summoned her own supplies she had tucked into the alternate dimension where she kept her keys. The effort left her out of breath and dizzy as she was really tired from the day's work.

'I should be safe this close to Oba-san's cottage, I don't have the magical power to summon Sirius anyway' Lucy thought to herself as she quickly took out her bedroll and laid down on it. She fell asleep within seconds.

* * *

"_Open! The Gate of the Paired Fish. Pisces_!"

Lucy stirred slowly, her eyes blinking rapidly to clear away the vestiges of sleep. Suddenly something went flying over her head, startling Lucy into alertness.

"Eh? What is going on?" Lucy quipped, scrambling to her feet. Standing in front of her was the old lady with her staff held diagonally in front of her in a defensive stance.

Lucy released a gasp, taking a reflexive step back as she realised they were surrounded by about half a dozen wolves and what appeared to be a pair of giant fishes engaged in battle.

'That's Pisces!' Lucy thought to herself, 'So Oba-san is a celestial mage too!'

Lucy reached out for her magical power but it was still dangerously low so she unclipped _Fleuve D'Etoiles_, extending the magical whip in case the twin fish couldn't handle the wolves.

Hearing a low growl behind her, Lucy instinctively lashed out skilfully with her whip, striking the wolf that had crept up behind her from where he had been thrown over her head previously. The wolf let out a whimper of pain before snarling again, crouching low, in a display of aggression. Lucy struck out with her whip again, this time successfully scaring away the wolf who retreated back into the darkness. Turning around, Lucy found that Pisces had managed to deal with the rest of the wolves and the creatures where beating a hasty retreat.

"Hmph. Only idiots would camp out in the open with no guard." The old lady muttered while stroking the twin fish's heads.

Lucy's eye twitched wanting to yell that it was the old lady's fault she had to camp out here but the old lady did save her life so Lucy thanked her instead.

"T-thank you. For helping me out." Lucy said.

"Hmph. Come on. I don't want to spend the whole night saving your sorry butt." The old lady said, dismissing her spirit with a nod and walking slowly back to her cottage.

Lucy followed silently, stopping for a while to grab her supplies and bed roll. Inside the cottage, the old lady simply pointed to a corner near the fireplace and Lucy immediately went over, laid out her bed roll and promptly fell asleep on it.

**End of Chapter 4**

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**I'm very sorry the chapter is a bit shorter! Please, please review! Thank you :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in update, I was in Bangkok for the past week. Thank you for reading and please enjoy!**

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**Chapter 5**

Something prodded her leg. "Go away Natsu." Lucy mumbled, half asleep.

The something prodded her leg again, more insistent this time. Lucy frowned and buried herself deeper into her blankets, trying to ignore the disturbance and go back to sleep.

The next attempt to wake her wasn't so forgiving. Lucy shot awake and hissed in pain when she felt the kiss of a wooden stave on her backside. She opened her mouth ready to yell at the offender when she realised she wasn't in her room back in Magnolia and a really grumpy old lady was staring at her.

Memories of last night came back to her and she scrambled to her feet, bowing to the grumpy old lady. "Obaa-san! Thank you for saving my life!"

"Hmph. You've recovered your magical strength and its daylight. I'm pretty even someone like you can make it back to Pomodo now." The old lady offered in reply.

Lucy flushed at the remark and bit back a retort. Straightening up, she began to pack away her bedroll and prepared to leave, all the while muttering some choice words for the old lady's grumpy attitude.

_Open! The Gate of the Paired Fish. Pisces! _

Lucy blinked in surprise as the memory of the old woman and a pair of giant fish defending her flashed in her mind. The old lady was a celestial spirit mage!

"Hmph! Still here? What are you waiting for? Leave my home already!" The old lady huffed at her, once again pointing her staff in the direction of the door.

"You're a celestial spirit mage!" Lucy said.

"Obviously." The old lady muttered under breath.

"Wow! I'm a celestial spirit mage too! You have a contract with Pisces! That so cool! What are they like? How do they attack? What other keys do you have?" Lucy shot question after question in her excitement.

The old lady harrumphed and proceeded to push the still questioning Lucy out her front door.

"Do you know of Doram Vita? How come the villagers don't wor- …" Lucy was cut off as a door slammed in her face and she was left blinking at the slightly worn wooden surface of the door.

'How rude!' Lucy exclaimed and stomped her foot in anger. She pounded on the door, determined to get her answers.

"Go away!" came the old lady's voice, oddly muffled by the door between them.

"Not until you answer my questions!" Lucy shouted back and continued to pound relentlessly on the door.

After about 15 minutes and a lot of pounding, the old lady finally relented and opened the door. Lucy entered the cottage once more, rubbing her now red forearms. She was sure to develop bruises from this.

Following the old lady's lead, Lucy sat down at the small dining table, trying not to wither under the old lady's glare.

"Ask your questions and be-gone girl." The old lady said.

Lucy bit her lip, considering all the questions she wanted to ask and picking one to begin with. "Who are you?"

"My name is Nadea." The old lady replied gruffly.

"Nadea _what_?" Lucy pressed.

"… Atamena." The old lady muttered, looking away.

Lucy squealed internally. She had guessed right! The old lady was one of the descendants of the 4 great houses Sagittarius told her about. Excited now, Lucy asked another question. "How did you end up here?"

"I was born here." the old lady – Nadea deadpanned.

Lucy face-palmed at the obvious reply, and tried a different direction instead. "Do the villagers know about you? Why don't they worship you?"

"They don't know I'm a summoner if that's what you're wondering." Nadea said.

"Why don't you tell them?" Lucy asked.

Nadea snorted, "You should know by now how they treat summoners."

Lucy nodded in understanding, recalling how annoying her week-long stay in Pomodo was with the constant fawning. "Sooo how did you get your keys? And what keys do you have anyway?" Lucy asked another question.

"My father gave them to me." Nadea replied, ignoring the second question. She was starting to get annoyed from all the questions.

Seeing Nadea's expression darken, Lucy hastily considered her still long list of questions, selecting the most important ones to ask first before Nadea throws her out again. "Do you know of Doram Vita?"

Nadea nodded, "My father brought me there when I was young. To train me."

Lucy's eyes widened at the last part, immediately beginning to wonder what kind of training it was. "Can you train me?" she asked enthusiastically.

"What? No!" Nadea snapped, startled with the sudden request.

"Why not?" Lucy asked.

"Because I don't want to." Nadea said stubbornly.

"I'll tell the villagers that you're a summoner." Lucy blackmailed.

Nadea looked at her, eyes wide open in horror and anger. Oh she could see it now, villagers coming by every day to disturb her peace, wanting her to summon spirits, bless their children, and what not. And that insufferable Birk! Oh the horror! "How _dare_ you!" She seethed.

Lucy wanted to shrink under the intensity of Nadea's glare but she held her ground. She had the upper hand here and she wasn't going to back down. "It won't take that long, just a couple of months and I'll be out of your hair." Lucy cajoled.

"Why do you even want me to teach you anyway?" Nadea snapped, "Judging by the number of gold keys you have, you're more than capable as summoner."

"I got most of my keys by luck, and with the help of my nakama." Lucy explained modestly, "I want to learn celestial magic the way it was taught originally."

"Doram Vita has thousands of books on summoning magic. Go teach yourself." Nadea said.

"I trieeeeed," Lucy whined, "But I just couldn't get it."

Nadea frowned at this. When she was younger, she had learned most of the basics from the books. Her father had only stepped in for her to practice battling with her spirits. That Lucy couldn't learn the basics from the books was disconcerting. Just how different is summoning - or celestial spirit magic as they call it - now?

"Pleaaaasseeeee" Lucy continued to whine, clasping her hands together in a gesture of plea.

Nadea sighed to herself. Lucy seemed to be a good girl, despite her blackmail, and she really did seem to be earnest in her bid to learn old summoning. What if Lucy really told the village that that she was a summoner? And Nadea reaaaallyy wanted to know how different summoning had become. 'Curse my curiosity!' Nadea thought to herself.

"-eeaaasseee"

"Fine." Nadea cut Lucy off mid-whine, "I will train you, _if_ you manage to defeat me in battle."

Lucy's jaw dropped, surprised that the old woman had actually agreed. Well Lucy would have to defeat her in battle first, which she wasn't sure if she could do. Lucy had improved a lot in the past year, but she had no idea how strong Nedea Atamena was, or how different old summoning would be.

Lucy beamed anyway, glad for the chance. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Lucy squealed, clasping Nadea's hands in her own.

Nedea extracted her hands from the hyper blond's grip with a frown. Battling the girl would give her an idea of the kind of person she is, based on how she used her summons. But she was unsure of Lucy's abilities and whether she was able to defeat Lucy if she decided not to train her.

"Father, grant me strength. I hope I don't regret this…" Nadea sighed to herself.

* * *

"The rules are simple. Two summons each. The first to have both summons forced back to the Spirit World loses." Nadea explain. They were moving through the forest towards a clearing that she knew of.

Lucy nodded her understanding and frowned, thinking of what Spirit she should use. The limit on the number of spirits meant her best bet would be the gold keys. 'Caelum and Sirius are out then, and so is Scutum.' Lucy mused, 'Which spirit should I summon?'

She only knew one of Nadea's key and she didn't even know what it's ability was, but Nadea probably knew exactly what keys she had and what their abilities were. This was going to be a tough fight.

The duo arrived at the clearing after a few more minutes of walking in silence. The clearing was of a decent size to stake a battle and a gurgling stream ran across the space. Nadea pointed with her staff to the opposite end of the clearing, across the stream, indicating Lucy should take her position there.

Lucy jumped the stream with little difficulty and took her position facing Nadea. She frowned as her heart began to pound in anticipation.

"Ready?" Nadea called out.

Steeling herself, Lucy gave a curt nod. 'I can do this!'

"Begin." Nadea barked and immediately she whipped out a key, its golden finish flashing in the sunlight.

A golden glow enveloped Lucy's right hand as she summoned her selected key.

"_Open_!" Nadea and Lucy chanted simultaneously.

"_The gate of the Paired Fish. Pisces_!"

"_The gate of the Lion. Leo_!"

The two golden gate summons appeared in a flash of brilliance in front of their respective summoners. Lucy started when the light faded enough for her to make out Nadea's summon. Gone were the paired fish that defended her last night. In its place were two human figures, a woman and a boy.

"Leo huh?" Nadea mused, looking at the tawny hair man. She had never actually seen the lion spirit but for the statue in Doram Vita. 'Leader of the golden keys and a spirit specialising in battle. Good choice.' Nadea acknowledged.

Lucy clenched her fist, unsettled by the different appearance of Pisces. "Loke, I'll be counting on you!" she called out to her spirit.

Loke gave her a dazzling smile and a thumbs-up in reply before turning to face the other spirit. "Ah Cythera, beautiful as ever I see." Loke greeted the gorgeous dark-haired woman that formed half the spirit Pisces.

"Leo. Well met." Cythera replied curtly.

"Enough talking Mum, I want to see just how strong our leader is!" The younger boy said with a smirk on his face, drawing his trident down in a slashing arc.

Nedea gave a barely discernible nod and her spirits attacked immediately , dashing forward with near inhuman speed.

Leo's fists were alight with the light of Regulus in an instant and met the attack head on. The moment the spirits clashed, the fight dissolved into punches and kicks with swipes of the boy's trident and flashes of light, too fast for Lucy's eyes to follow.

Lucy couldn't tell who was winning but she knew that it was two against one and the odds were against Loke. Nadea did say only two spirits, but she didn't say anything about the summoner. Whipping out her Flueve d'Etoiles Lucy expanded the water whip and looked for an opening to attack.

The boy's trident swung high in an arc, ready to deal a devastating blow to the Lion spirit preoccupied with his mother. Lucy snapped her wrist and her water whip shot out, grabbing hold of the trident. She willed her whip to contract while yanking hard, gritting her teeth with the effort.

The boy frowned and turned his attention to Lucy instead, easily pulling his weapon out of the whip's hold. Lucy cursed under her breath and ducked as the boy came flying at her. She stumbled to the ground, tucking herself into a roll. When she looked up, the boy was right in front of her, poised to strike. Whipping her whip out again, Lucy grabbed hold of a nearby tree and willed the whip to contract, pulling herself out of the way.

Lucy scrambled to her feet, panting. To her left, Loke and Cythera were still fighting in earnest. The boy was straight ahead of her, pulling his trident out of the ground. Lucy shivered to think what would have happened if she hadn't managed to slip away. They're so strong!

Having wrenched his trident free from the ground boy now held it pointed at Lucy, its three prongs beginning to glow ominously. Lucy hastily ducked out of the way as streak of blinding blue light came hurtling towards her. She hissed in pain as the light grazed her, opening a gash on her upper arm.

Lucy stumbled on an upturned root and fell forward into the gurgling stream. Gasping in pain as the rocky bed of the stream bit into her palms, Lucy hurriedly turned around to face the boy again. Her blood ran cold when she was he was preparing yet another strike.

Lucy threw herself down into the stream as the strike shot overhead. The water was impeding her movements, making it harder to get away. Lucy stood up, grimacing in pain from the wound on her arm but the pain helped keep her alert. Thrusting her right hand out, she summoned another key. It was going to be risky; keeping two gates open would drain her magic quickly. She had to move quickly.

"_Open! The gate of the Water-Bearer. Aquarius!_"

The beautiful mermaid materialised and Lucy noticed that the boy hesitated, stopping in his tracks. The water from the stream flowed into a swirling whirlpool as Aquarius exerted her control over it. Loke broke away from his fight with Cythera to duck out of the way, knowing what to expect when Lucy summoned Aquarius. Lucy similarly scrambled out of the way as Aquarius sent a powerful wave of water at the mother and son.

Lucy's jaw dropped open in shock as Cythera and her son transformed back into fishes at the touch of water.

"Pisces, Gate closure."

Lucy turned around to see Nadea keeping Pisces' key somewhere within the folds of her clothing and extract another.

"_Open, the gate of the scales. Libra_!"

A veiled woman with scaled attached to her fingers materialised and immediately, Lucy felt an immense pressure pushing her to the ground. Libra was manipulating gravity, Lucy realised as she gasped, trying to draw in a breath.

As suddenly as the pressure appeared, it disappeared. Lucy staggered to her feet and realised that Loke had attacked Libra, which had caused her to release the gravitational pressure upon Lucy. Black spots appeared in Lucy's vision and she swayed slightly. Her magic was running dangerously low keeping the two gates open.

"Aquarius, gate closure." Lucy dismissed her water spirit, making her even with Nadea with one spirit left each. Turning her attention back to Loke's battle with Libra, Lucy took out her whip again, hoping to help Loke out.

Loke had Libra on the defensive, using his superior battle skills to keep her focused on avoiding his attacks, but he knew the moment he let up she would use her gravitational powers and he would be unable to do anything. Loke knew Lucy's magic was running out and he was tired as well from his battle with Pisces. He had to finish this quickly.

Loke broke away from Libra and held his right fist before him, drawing on the light of Regulus for his attack.

"_Regulus Impact_!" Loke shouted and a brilliant globe of light in the shape of a lion's head burst from his outstretched fist, streaking towards Libra.

Libra jumped, inhumanly high, easily leaping over the attack and landed nimbly on the ground. Next thing Loke knew, he was being crushed to the ground by an invisible force.

Lucy gasped as she too was pushed to the ground by the same force. Gritting her teeth in pain, Lucy summoned Loke's key. "Leo, forced gate closure!" She managed to gasp, compelling the lion spirit back into the spirit world.

Immediately the pressure disappeared and Lucy drew in a gasping breath. Disappointment filled her and she felt the familiar ache of tears burning her eyes. 'I'm still too weak!' Lucy berated herself, punching the ground in frustration.

Nadea dismissed Libra after a quick word of thanks and turn her gaze to the fallen blond summoner. Lucy had put up a good fight, smart enough to see the gaps in the rules and brave to take on a spirit herself. But Nadea didn't understand why Lucy had dismissed Aquarius. Having two spirits against her one spirit was a definite advantage. She obviously cared for her spirits, forcing Leo's gate close even under Libra's gravity to save him the pain, even though she knew he couldn't die.

Walking over to Lucy, Nadea tapped her lightly with her staff. "You alright?" she asked gruffly.

Lucy nodded mutely, keeping her eyes downcast.

"Come on girl, let's get that arm fixed up." Nadea said, turning around to head back to her cottage.

Lucy followed her silently.

By the time they returned to the cottage, Lucy was obviously exhausted.

Nadea frowned to herself. The battle had been a relatively short one, it should have taken that much out of Lucy. Maybe she hadn't recovered her magic power from yesterday yet. But then again, a full night's rest should have been enough.

Lucy collapsed into a chair, completely exhausted, barely able to hold herself upright. Nadea went to fetch her first aid kit and began patching up Lucy's wound. Lucy hissed in pain a few times but remained silent other than that.

"There, all done. It's not that deep. Keep it clean and you should be fine in a couple of weeks." Nadea said tying of the bandage.

"Thank you." Lucy smiled weakly and stood up, swaying dangerously, "I-I guess I should go now. Thank you for giving me a chance. You're really strong. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone you're a summoner-"

"Oh for Spirits sake! Sit down girl. You look like death." Nadea snapped, hiding her concern behind her usual crankiness.

Lucy sank gratefully into the chair again, "I'm sorry, just give me a few moments to rest. I'll be gone after that."

Nadea got up and went to the kitchen to prepare some tea for Lucy. Lucy laid her pounding head down on the table and sighed, disappointment still a persistent ache in her heart.

When Nadea returned, Lucy lifted her head off the table with some effort and accepted with gratitude the steam mug shoved in her face.

Lucy set the mug down with a sigh after taking a couple of sips. Nadea's eye twitched. All this sighing and moping was driving her insane. They sat in silence for a while before Lucy released another sigh.

"Alright! Alright!-" Nadea burst.

Lucy looked up, startled at the older woman's outburst. She hadn't done anything, so why was Nadea upset?

"-I'll train you! Stop moping already!" Nadea exclaimed, cursing herself for being too soft.

"Really? But I lost." Lucy perked up immediately, eyes shining with hope. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You won't regret it! I promise!"

Nadea only muttered to herself, wondering what she had gotten herself into this time.

**End of Chapter 3**

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**Thank you for reading! Please leave a review! I don't seem to be getting a lot of reviews, is saying that there are some elements of Final Fantasy X in the summary of the story putting people off from reading the story? Please let me know as the elements of Final Fantasy in this story is only in the similarity of the back story to that of Spira and Sin in FFX. I really hope people don't avoid this story because they think there will be a lot of Final Fantasy characters and etc in it. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi everyone, Happy new year! Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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The sun was just peeking over the horizon when Lucy returned from her pre-dawn run up and down the mountain. Panting soft in exertion she began to stretch her limbs to ease the tension from her tired muscles.

"I wonder if Nadea-sama is going to teach me magic today..." Lucy mumbled to Sirius and Plue who had accompanied her on her daily run.

It had been 2 months since Nadea-sama had grudgingly agreed to train Lucy. In that time Lucy had completely recovered from her battle with Nadea-sama, and travelled back to Pomodo to get more supplies and inform them that she was going to explore Doram Vita some more (an almost truth) so she had an excuse to disappear for days on end but still come in regularly for supplies. However, besides instructing that the blonde improve her physical stamina, Nadea-sama did nothing else remotely teaching-like to fulfill her promise to teach Lucy the art of summoning. Granted her physical stamina had improved drastically with the strenuous training, Lucy was impatient to start learning how summoning was performed in the past and hopefully improve her own magic as well.

After completing her stretches, Lucy headed back into the cottage for breakfast. Nadea-sama was already up and bustling about in the kitchen preparing breakfast with ruthless efficiency like how she did everything else. Sitting down at the tiny table, Lucy dug in to her breakfast of bacon, eggs and a strange tea that Nadea-sama made all the time.

"Sooooo Nadea-sama... are we going to do some summoning today?" Lucy asked the same question she asked everyday for the past month or so.

"Yes-" Nadea replied curtly and Lucy almost spit out her half chewed bacon in shock.

"Nghhffpm wha?-" she sputtered while trying to swallow her food.

"Hmph. Hurry up and eat girl. You want to learn summoning of not?" Nadea told the still shocked blonde and hurried away, clearing up the dishes.

Lucy wolfed down the rest of her breakfast at a speed rivalling Natsu's and dumped her dishes in the sink before following Nadea outside. Washing the dishes could wait.

They were back in the clearing where Lucy first battled Nadea-sama and once again Lucy stood facing her new mentor.

"Take me through your gate. We shall see the result of your training." Nadea instructed.

"Huh? My gate?" Lucy was lost. Did Nadea-sama mean one of the golden keys? But how was she supposed to take her through it?

"Open your spirit gate girl!" Nadea snapped impatiently.

"What spirit gate?" Lucy asked, totally clueless as to what Nadea-sama was talking about.

Nadea frowned in confusion. Summoners, or celestial mages as they were known now were as their chant implied, the link between this world and the spirit world. In order to bring the spirits into this world, two gates had to be opened, the spirit's individual gates in the spirit world and one here in this world to create a path between the 2 worlds. The Spirit Gates created by the summoner functioned as the gate in this world. Since Lucy was able to summon spirits, and even 2 at once Nadea had assumed she had opened her Spirit Gate long ago.

"Have you passed through the Cloister of the Heavens?" Nadea asked the blonde mage.

Lucy shook her head, becoming increasingly confused. The Cloister of the Heavens was mentioned several times in the few hundred books she read in Doram Vita. From what she could glean, it seemed like a rite of passage of sorts.

Nadea was shocked. Lucy hadn't opened her own spirit gate but was able to summon? Her father had told her a long time ago that some exceptionally strong summoners were able to summon without opening their Spirit Gate, the high summoner Lenea Adastra being one of the rare few. These summoners brought the spirits to this world by forcing open the pathway between the Spirit world and this world temporarily to open the gates of their spirits. Doing this took a lot of magical power so it was a lot easier to just open your own gate to reach the spirit world and keep it open than to force a new path each time.

Nadea shook her head in slight disbelief. No wonder Lucy had closed Aquarius' gate in their battle, it must have been a huge drain on the girl's magic with Leo's gate already open. Just how strong was Lucy's magical power? Opening one golden gate without a spirit gate was already remarkable, but to open two golden gates at one and for a significant ampunt of time too.

"Come on girl. Let's go back. There is nothing else we can do today." Nadea turned around and started heading back to the cottage.

"Wait wait! I thought we were going to do magic today!" Lucy scrambled after Nadea.

"There's nothing we can do until you can pass through the Cloister of the Heavens and you can only do that on a night of the new moon." Nadea replied.

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Lucy fidgeted nervously as midnight drew closer. Tonight was finally a new moon and she would pass through the Cloister of the Heavens.

"Stop fidgeting girl!" Nadea snapped irritably, "There is nothing for you to be nervous about."

Lucy nodded weakly and took a deep breath. Nadea had informed her that it was mere rite of passage and she should be able to pass through with no problems. However, Lucy was still unable to shake off the nervousness. Despite the past year of going solo and all the training she had gone through, she was still insecure of her own abilities, having always relied on her nakama in Fairy Tail to bail her out.

"Come on, it time." Nadea beckoned and headed out of the cottage.

Lucy followed the older woman out and shivered slightly as the cold night air hit her. She itched to summon her constant companions Sirius and Plus for some company but Nadea-sama had said she should conserve her magic for the rite. Following Nadea-sama's lead, Lucy stood in a small open space with nothing overhead to block the stars shining overhead. Looking up, a small smile crept upon her face as she took in the tranquility and sheer beauty of the star spangled sky. '_I can do this!'_

"Ready?" Nadea asked.

Lucy nodded in affirmative and took a deep breath, whispering a quick prayer. '_Watch over me mama.'_

Closing her eyes, she chanted, "_I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now! Open the gate to the stars. Cloister of the Heavens!_"

A golden magic circle appeared beneath Lucy, shining with unbearable brightness before winking out suddenly and taking Lucy with it.

Opening her eyes, Lucy found herself seemingly standing in space. All around her was nothing but the midnight blue of the night sky spotted with the silver of twinkling stars. She appeared to be standing on Eridanus, the River of Stars.

A particular star that seemed to be right in front of her began to glow brighter and brighter till Lucy had to blink and the Spirit King appear.

"Moustache man! I-I mean Spirit King!" Lucy exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Hmm?" The Spirit King raised his brows, "It was you who opened the Cloister of the Heavens no?"

"Oh! Right, sorry you took me by surprise." Lucy replied, embarrassed. "Sooo… what do I do now?"

"You build a gate." The King replied.

"Huh? How do I do that?" Lucy asked.

"With your magic of course. Come, follow me." The Spirit King turned and led Lucy down Eridanus.

After several minutes or several hours of walking, Lucy wasn't sure as she had no sense of time in this place, they arrived at a spot where Eridanus seemed to widen and pool into a single lake of starlight.

"Wow.." Lucy mumbled softly, staring at the roiling river of stars beneath her. Here, the flow of stars slowed enough that she could make out each individual star if she concentrated and the river spiraled into a single point at the center, resembling a gentle maelstrom of sorts, only infinitely more beautiful.

The Spirit King cleared his throat in a rather _human_ manner to break Lucy out of her trance. "Here is where you shall create your gate, the Crossroads of the Worlds"

"Uhhh okay. So how do I do that?" Lucy asked.

"Simply envision one in your mind and let your magic flow." The King guided, motioning for Lucy to stand at the epicenter of the gentle whirlpool of starlight.

Closing her eyes, Lucy took a deep breath and began to imagine. First a dais of marble, the color of milk. Next were 3 perfectly cut steps to lead up to the gate. Third was a golden arch, thrice her height and five times as wide, followed by the 2 perfectly symmetrical gates wrought of the finest gold, echoing the constellations of the Milky Way. Finally, her finishing touch was the Fairy Tail symbol in white marble, right beneath the apex of the arch.

Opening her eyes, Lucy gasped in wonder as an exact replica of her imagined gate stood right in front of her, shimmering faintly with magic. Taking a few hesitant steps forward, Lucy reached out and gently touched the gate. It felt cool beneath her fingers like metal but she could feel the undercurrents of magic thrumming through the entire structure.

The spirit king observed Lucy silently. He knew who she was of course, and the difficult journey that lay ahead of her. But it wasn't his place to tell unless she asked of him. Her gate was definitely impressive, at least twice the size of any gate he has seen wrought so far and a lot more intricate. One detail in particular piqued his curiosity though.

"No lock?" The Spirit King asked.

"Uhm should I put one?"

"If you want to." The King shrugged unregally.

Lucy chewed her bottom lip and thought for a bit, before shaking her head in a negative. "I trust my Spirits and I wouldn't want to lock them here against their will."

The king nodded sagely in agreement, "If you are certain then it is time to open your gate. Are you ready?"

Lucy took one more glance at her gate, looking it over for any flaws. Finding none, she nodded her readiness to the king.

"Once you open and step through the gate, you will return to Earthland as is the purpose of the gate, and the gate shall remain open or closed at your will from henceforth. Any spirit you summon will pass through this gate to enter your world." The King informed Lucy.

"Okay, I'm ready." Lucy said, and stepped forward onto the dais. She placed both palms flat against the twin doors of the gate, feeling the magic of the stars course beneath her hands. Turning around one last time, Lucy flashed the Spirit King a smile, "Bye bye Moustache-jiji!" before pushing open the gates and stepping through.

Lucy passed through what felt like a thin film of jelly and the cool air of the night hit her exposed skin. 'So this is what it feels like to be summoned' she mused, looking around but not seeing Nadea-sama anywhere. 'Guess she went back first.' Lucy thought to herself and turned around to go back to the cottage herself suddenly feeling exhausted.

"Hmph. I see you're back." Nadea grumbled as a greeting, laying out some supper on the small table. Turning around, she went back into the kitchen to prepare a second serving as she hadn't expected Lucy to be back so soon.

Lucy collapsed exhausted on the chair, putting her head on the table in a rather unladylike fashion but she was too tired for propriety. Peeking open an eye, she glanced at the clock on the mantle and shot up in surprise. It was five to eleven?! But she left after midnight… so that would mean she had been gone for an entire day?

"How long was I gone?" Lucy asked Nadea-sama when she re-entered the room.

"Hmph. About 4 days." The older woman replied, setting down another plate of food for Lucy before taking a seat herself.

"4 days?! But it felt like barely an hour!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Time passes differently in the Spirit World. One day in there is about 3 months out here." Nadea replied calmly between bites. "How did it go?"

"It went okay," Lucy mumbled, her exhaustion creeping back in, "The Spirit King helped me out."

Nadea's fork clattered against her plate, "You saw the Spirit King!?"

"Uhm yeah, he guided me on where and how to build my gate." Lucy replied. "I've met him before, so maybe that's why he chose to guide me. Rather nice of him actually. I'll have to ask Loke to pass on my thanks." Lucy rambled, mostly to herself.

Nadea slowly resumed eating, deep in thought. 'The Spirit King himself guided her! And it's not her first time meeting him! This girl has been marked for something special… I can only hope to prepare her well enough when the time comes. Got to ask her how she first met the Spirit King…'

The two of them finished the rest of their meal in silence and Nadea did the dishes while Lucy took a quick bath before calling it a night.

**End of Chapter 6**

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**Pretty short and uneventful chapter. Chapter 7 will be out soon! Please review, thank you :) **


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